Rush v. City of Maple Heights

Rush's (plaintiff) husband drove her motorcycle into a hole in the road, injuring Rush and damaging the motorcycle. Rush first sued the City of Maple Heights (defendant) in municipal court for the motorcycle's $100 property damage, alleging the city's negligent failure to repair the road proximately caused the accident, and won that judgment, which was affirmed on appeal through the state supreme court. Rush then filed a second, separate action to recover for her personal injuries from the same accident; the trial court treated negligence and proximate cause as already established by the first judgment, and a jury awarded Rush $12,000 in the second suit, which the court of appeals affirmed.